RIDERS GETTING READY
Roughriders players’ Chris Getzlaf, from left, Ed Gainey and Derrick Moncrief make the walk from Mosaic Stadium to the EventPlex for practice Wednesday. The Riders play in the CFL East Division semifinal against the Ottawa Redblacks on Sunday.
Kevin Glenn approached the slavering media mob and was typically convivial.
On Wednesday at the Credit Union EventPlex, where the Saskatchewan Roughriders began on-field preparations for the
CFL playoffs, he joked around with reporters before patiently answering every question they posed.
Many of the responses were expansive — although one exception stood out.
CBC’s Glenn Reid inquired whether head coach Chris Jones’ recent propensity to pull Glenn in favour of understudy Brandon Bridge had affected the 38-yearold quarterback’s confidence entering Sunday’s appointment with the host Ottawa Redblacks.
“I’m very confident,” Glenn replied. “I’ll just say this: If you’ve been around this sport long enough and you’ve watched the game, you’ll understand that it wasn’t my play that was the reason why I was exited from the game, so I’ll leave it at that.”
Jones has repeatedly outlined his rationale for replacing Glenn. When the pass protection is not what it should be, the deployment of a younger, more mobile pivot is viewed as an imperative by the coaching staff.
Let’s reverse that line of thinking. What seems to be essential, from this standpoint, is that the Roughriders find a way to protect Glenn and thereby benefit from his wealth of experience.
A CFLer since 2001, Glenn has experienced virtually everything. The only obvious void is a Grey Cup championship, something he would love to change by month’s end.
“Big time,” he said. “I’m a firm believer that it still doesn’t define you as a person. People say that but, at the same time, this is the ultimate team sport, so when you can accomplish something like that with a team — where there are so many different situations and circumstances that go into you being able to win that Cup — that says a lot about the continuity of the team, the character of the guys on the team, the coaching staff, the players ... all that.”
Appraisals of an individual’s career in a team sport can be arbitrary and simplistic.
It has often been noted that legendary Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, for all his accomplishments, never played for a Super Bowl winner. Also consider Glenn’s former Winnipeg Blue Bombers teammate, Milt Stegall, who did everything except play for a champion.
People are apt to label an athlete as someone who has “never won the big one,” without considering the entire equation.
“It gives them a way to make conversation and to make arguments about people,” Glenn said. “That’s just the way our society is.”
Given better luck, Glenn could have celebrated a title a decade ago. He suffered a broken left arm while quarterbacking the Blue Bombers in the 2007 East Division final and therefore sat out the Grey Cup game, in which Saskatchewan defeated Winnipeg 23-19. His replacement, Ryan Dinwiddie, was intercepted three times by Grey Cup MVP James Johnson.
Since then, the hypothetical question has been posed: What if Glenn had played in that game? He used to ponder the unanswerable “what if ?”
“Not anymore,” he said. “It has been long gone now. I’ve played in a bunch of different games.
I’ve accomplished a lot since then. Those kind of things happen for a reason.
“We might never know as individuals, as humans, the reason why it happened, but it happened. There’s no reason to dwell on it. You try to take advantage of the opportunities that are presented in front of you right now.”
Earlier this season, the Roughriders seized an opportunity to honour the 2007 champions. Jokingly, Glenn was asked if he had raised the matter with the team’s human resources department.
“Naah, naah,” he said, smiling. “They did a good job. That kind of stuff is supposed to happen.
“I never take it personally. That kind of stuff doesn’t define me as a person, because it’s the ultimate team sport.”
So, what does define him as a person?
“The things that you accomplish and you put forth ... the type of person that you are to your teammates, to your family, to the community,” the classy signal caller concluded.
“Those honourable things that make you a very good individual define you — not some hardware. Some people have bought those Grey Cup rings off eBay.”
The things that you accomplish and you put forth ... the type of person that you are to your teammates, to your family, to the community,